As much as I am looking forward to moving - not for a month and a half yet !! - I will miss my windows. They help bring the outside in. In the summer that means the flowers, grass and blue blue sky and in winter the clean white billowing snow and blue blue sky. I love it!
P.S. Happy Birthday Dad. I hope you are celebrating with all my friends and relatives that have passed before me.
Guess what SR put together today. The stroller is up and ready for the first walk. So far the twins seemed to like the stroll to the market, a perfect thing to do today as our weather finally decided to be summer.
And today I caught up with Sue. Haven't seen her since the Olympics (???)... a long long time anyway. She was just on her way south to learn dog training. Hope she comes back with some good tips for Run-Away Timber! Great catching up and we promise to meet more often.
Still catching up with friends. Last night it was Iris and Terry as Terry will soon be moving down to Vancouver Island. And Iris just had her ear rebuilt so she can now hear @ 116% hearing - I think that makes her some kind of super hero with super hearing power! So after a quick refreshment we made our way to dinner.
Going Mexican tonight. Sanchez had room inside luckily so we dined and caught up with everyone's news. We'll miss our threesome gabfest. We all lead such different lives so catching up is so much fun.
Everyone remembers the summer holidays as a kid. Hot sun, swimming pool or beach and Archie Comics - catching up on our good friends Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jug Head et al. Well, I am sad to report that Archie met his end today. Below is his obituary. And, it reveals how long ago I read Archie comics. I didn't know he was married, had a child, or of his larger circle of friends. Interesting read. RIP Archie Andrews.
Riverdale — The Globe and Mail
Published
Honorable to his last breath, Archie was an action hero without a cape, an everyday Riverdalian who did not need physiological transformation to perform noble deeds. He was a maladroit ubermensch grappling forever with the forces of Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, Betty and Veronica.
On Wednesday at a post-fundraiser party for his controversial friend, U.S. Senator Kevin Keller, the bumbling athlete and love-torn musician Archibald “Archie” Andrews leapt in front of an assassin’s bullet intended for the openly gay U.S. senator. No details on the suspect are known, and sources close to the storyline cannot speak about it because they cannot break their non-disclosure agreements. There was an FBI detail on duty, brought in to protect Mr. Keller after the recent shooting of a gay man at Southport Mall and the discovery of Keller campaign literature in a motel room believed to have been occupied by the shooter.
Earlier in the evening at the downtown venue, Jughead’s Chocklit Shop, Mr. Andrews had ordered a large chocolate milkshake with a maraschino cherry and three straws – an order he had placed thousands of times over the decades. The three straws were an homage of sorts to his teen years when he would share the shake with two girlfriends, the former Miss Veronica Lodge and the former Miss Betty Cooper. Mr. Andrews inadvertently knocked the shake over in his rush to protect Mr. Keller, who was accompanied to both the fundraiser and after-party by his husband and former physical therapist, Clay Walker.
While Mr. Andrews died of his injuries in the seriesLife with Archie, he will continue to live in our hearts, as well as in several commercial iterations, including an upcoming feature film. As if foreshadowing Wednesday’s tragic event two years ago, the film’s director pointed to the psychic demons Mr. Andrews faced. “There are parts of the story that I think people will be surprised how dark and real it gets,” said Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Equally portentous, he is writing a zombie series calledAfterlife with Archie.
Born in Riverdale in 1941 to a family of vaguely Scottish ancestry, Mr. Andrews would sometimes wear a kilt and, on occasion, strangle a bagpipe. He never had “Mommy issues” with Mary Andrews—she was frustrated but indulgent. Their positive rapport led to wide puzzlement over his perennial inability to choose between the solidly middle-class Elizabeth “Betty” Cooper and Veronica “Ronnie” Lodge, the daughter of the local oligarch, Hiram. While Mr. Keller was Archie’s best friend later in life, his most formative companionship was with Jughead Jones, best known for his squinting, thousand-yard stare and signature “clubhouse beanie” fashioned from an upside-down fedora.
A musician of minor note, Mr. Andrews and his eponymous band first tripped out of the gate with his debut song, Bang-Shang-a-Lang, but soon after enjoyed early musical success with its 1969 hit, Sugar, Sugar, a song aching with the wanton teenage lust that would later influence the early work of One Direction. After a long hiatus from the musical charts, he began a love affair with Josie and the Pussycats guitarist Valerie Smith. The relationship was a notable departure for Mr. Andrews. It was his first interracial relationship and, conservative critics suggested it began his slide into the liberal politics that ultimately led to his demise. The couple consummated their relationship with a song, More than Words, and a child named Star.
Mr. Andrews death came quickly on the floor of the Chocklit Shoppe, surrounded, fortunately, by many loved ones, friends and acquaintances of long-standing. As the end neared, he calmly enquired as to the safety of the crowd and declared: “I’ve always loved you.”
Met my friend Deb at the Ridge tonight for dinner. We haven't chatted for a long long time. Everyone seems to be extremely busy this summer so we made arrangements to meet this evening. Above is the path I take to the local Pub. It is only about 3 minutes walk from my current house.
Deb and I arrived at the same time. Good to see my 'ol friend.
For Sale: Selling my house via Property Guys. That is, I am selling it myself. I have had two open houses and many individuals walking through my house. Lots and lots of interest and currently I have an offer on the table. Conditions come off July 31st. Here's hoping.
I took my old neighbour (I should quit calling her my "old" neighbour) Helen out for her birthday lunch and was invited to bring her over to see the twins. Ben was there and he was holding Alanna so gently I couldn't help but take a picture. The twins have been home a week now and have grown immensely. Of course, you couldn't tell if you look at the size of Ben's hand compared to the whole of Alanna!
The new Gramma. This was on a different day, taken while I was watching Germany play in the World Cup.
My neighbour Gramma aka Helen being introduced to Emerson by his proud father.
June 28th. At last, they arrive home. And who brings them to the north?? No other than Air North, Yukon's Airline! Of course, they were the last ones off the plane with an attendant pushing baby paraphenalia behind them.
My first glimpse of my grandchildren, slung over their mother's shoulders. They certainly were cute, even from that distance.
Finally, home sweet home. They left a couple and returned a full family.
After learning how to hold them, how to diaper them and how they feed and sleep (I have never touched a baby that small before in my life!) I left them to sleep in their new home. Sweet dreams Alanna and Emerson!
16 days later, the little ones decided to enter our world. They were premature, Emerson weighing 5 pounds, 2 oz, and Alanna weighing 5 pounds 10 oz. The photo above is one of my favourites, brother and sister so tenderly together in Mom's arms.
The first Family Photo.
SR on day one with Emerson. The hospital staff was wonderful with the newborns and the parents. As they had to stay there until the twins could feed without a feeding tube, the nurses passed along much valuable information. I was still in Whitehorse getting daily updates and looking forward to the day I could actually see them all for real.
June 1st, 7:00 AM: B, with early labour pains, moved from the hospital by ambulance to be medivacked to Vancouver. I followed in my car behind the ambulance to the airport. I sat in the ambulance (my first time in an ambulance - they are very clean!) there until the plane was ready to load its passenger. Below is the plane. Unfortunately SR was in Watson Lake, so at this point he was driving into Whitehorse, otherwise he would be on this flight also. Three hours later, the plane touched down in Vancouver, B was ambulanced to the hospital.
It was a beautiful day the morning the flight took off.
